How one woman’s petition to Zomato got NRAI to urge restaurant owners to conduct background checks for delivery boys

A month back, Tejaswini Naik started an online petition on Change.org calling out all restaurant delivery services, specifically Zomato, the country’s biggest delivery aggregator to conduct background checks and train its delivery team to ensure a safe delivery option for women.

Her demand did not come out of the blue. It came from a harrowing personal experience.

One night after she had ordered food that was delivered to her doorstep by a delivery boy; she started receiving harassing messages on Whatsapp.

Living alone, she naturally got scared, as the messages kept continuing.

Naik however considers herself lucky as the harassment stopped at just that. For a lot of other women living alone, their ordeals were a little more unfortunate.

Apart from the various instances of women getting raped or murdered by delivery boys that find a small casual mention in the newspapers, one recent instance brought the issue of the danger lurking for women living alone even when they get food delivered home in the limelight.

Recently, a Twitter user (@facepalm92) had to move out of a city after facing harassment from a restaurant delivery boy for almost one year. Complaining to the local police was of no avail.

She recollected that a man from a local restaurant she had ordered food from, had started pestering her for 'friendship' soon after he delivered the parcel to her apartment where she lived alone. She blocked his number later, but kept getting calls from various numbers. The calls didn't stop even after she moved to another city.

After her story went viral, Bengaluru cops leaped into action following the huge social media support she received.

However, not every woman gets to have the same luck or privilege as she did, and noting that Naik sent a letter to Zomato’s CEO Deepinder Goyal asking him to ensure the needful is done.

As of 11 hours ago her petition had 30,000 supporters, most of whom echoed our thoughts but stressed on the fact that although background checks and training is necessary and is a good step to start with- it certainly isn’t enough.

However, there was a little catch.

Zomato essentially functions as a technology enabler for online ordering and do not have their very own delivery fleet, instead tying up with third-party logistics firms which deploy delivery boys.

Commenting on the issue, Pankaj Chaddah, co-founder of Zomato said that the safety of end consumers should be a collective responsibility of all parties involved.

“At Zomato, we do not employ our own fleet of delivery personnel, we just enable users to place their orders online at restaurants, and the restaurant employs delivery boys (or a third-party logistics firms deploys delivery boys), but we understand that this concern is a serious one. We are working with our logistics partners Grab, and Delhivery, to ensure police verification is done for all food delivery personnel, and with NRAI (National Restaurant Association of India) to advise restaurants to do so for their own delivery personnel as well. As one of the leaders in the food industry, it is incumbent on us to drive the importance of ensuring that safety of our users is not compromised and we are all collectively working towards this very important goal,” he added.

For Zomato, which is looking to rule the online ordering market as it ties up with major players like Natural's Icecream, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King to name a few, this is indeed a necessary step, as it's a given that the number of customers ordering from Zomato will be undoubtedly high. Secondly, it can also set an example for other players to follow by making police verification mandatory and thereby the delivery process seamless and an enjoyable experience.

On his part, Riyaaz Amlani, President of the NRAI has promised that in this situation too, they will continue providing the right guidance and advice to the Indian restaurant fraternity.

Considering that the food delivery segment is a huge chunk of the Indian restaurant service industry and is sacrosanct for its growth, it’s imperative that restaurants are educated on the importance of vetting the delivery staff they onboard to ensure that not just women, but a safe delivery experience is guaranteed to anyone.